DOMAINE BONNET-COTTON
Brouilly, Beaujolais, France
From Wine Advocate’s William Kelley: “Pierres Cotton’s high-quality wines from this small estate rank him as one of the region’s most exciting new talents, but they still fly somewhat under the radar—at least outside the French cognoscenti—perhaps because Pierre prefers to be on his tractor than hosting visits. Organic viticulture, semi-carbonic maceration and élevage in foudre and barrel with minimal sulfur dioxide are the rudiments of an approach informed by the likes of Yvon Métras and Jean Foillard. While the wines can be challenging to find, they are well worth seeking out.”
Brouilly wines generally are fruit-driven (plum, small red fruit), sometimes with mineral notes, express the gamay bouquet perfectly. Brouilly wines can be enjoyed in their youth.
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2022 Beaujolais Rouge ‘Bas les Masques’
$28.99 3+ bottles (Mix and Match OK)
$30.99
Mostly Gamay, with some varietally-undisclosed “white juice” blended in. Grapes are hand-harvested from several parcels that use organic practices, including some from Bonnet-Cotton, as well as friends Domaine les Souriants, Domaine les Garçons, Romain Jambon, and Baptiste Bertrand. Fermented and aged eight months in concrete tanks; unfined, unfiltered, no sulfites added.
2022 Brouilly ‘100%’
$32.99 3+ bottles (Mix and Match OK)
$34.99
The Brouilly comes from family holdings just outside of Odenas at lower elevation than the Côte de Brouilly. The Brouilly tends to be a bit lighter and fresher. Brouilly was the second wine that Pierre produced, and decided to stick with the same name - 100% Cotton. Of course, all of the other wines from the domaine are also made 100% by Pierre and Marine, but the name only stuck for the first two wines. All of the red wines at Cotton are vinified with native yeasts and without SO2 in concrete tanks, then age underground in century-old foudres that were originally built for holding beer, then were repurposed in the 1950s and 1960s.
2022 Brouilly ‘Les Mines’
$32.99 3+ bottles (Mix and Match OK)
$34.99
VINEYARD NAME: les Mines
SOIL TYPE: The soils are granitic silty for the first one and granitic for the second one
VINE AGE: Old vines
2022 Cote de Brouilly ‘100% Cotton’ 2022
$32.99 3+ bottles (Mix and Match OK)
$34.99
Located just next to the winery in Odenas, Cotton’s parcel of Côte de Brouilly is on a unique terroir of “corne verte” that Pierre says is found nowhere else in the Beaujolais. The Côte de Brouilly 100% Cotton was the first cuvée Pierre made and remains the emblematic wine of the domaine - a structured, powerful Gamay that magically retains the easy drinking bonhomie of the best wines of the Beaujolais. All of the red wines at Cotton are vinified with native yeasts and without SO2 in concrete tanks, then age underground in century-old foudres that were originally built for holding beer, then were repurposed in the 1950s and 1960s.
Viticulture
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